Hakeem Olajuwon, the de facto post teacher for NBA stars, has not seen the progression he expected from his current student, Dwight Howard of the Houston Rockets.

Howard has solid numbers, boasting averages of 17.2 points, 13.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, but something appears off. Olajuwon, who won NBA titles with the Rockets, has studied Howard's game. Still, even with this intimate knowledge, he pointed out what even the casual observer can see in Howard's game. Olajuwon pointed out that Howard's hesitance in the post has slowed his progress.

“Dwight has always been athletic and aggressive and he still is. But when I watch him, what I see are opportunities that he is missing. When he gets the ball, he seems to be taking his time to decide what move to make, where he should go.

“There should not be a delay for Dwight. He must be able to make a faster recognition of the situations and react immediately with a go-to move. You must move right away before the defense has a chance to set up. You must be the one making the first move so that you can force the defender to always be the one reacting.

“I thought we were doing a good job with this when we were working together over the summer and at the start of training camp. But what I see now is that when Dwight gets in competition, he has a tendency to go back to all of his old habits. He’s just doing all of the things that he did before. He needs a reminder.”

In short: Howard is thinking instead of reacting.

In a recent story, Sporting News Sean Deveney pointed out a drop in post-up field-goal attempts for Howard, a stat that has dropped each season since he left Orlando after the 2011-12 season.

Howard has always been surrounded by shooters, so it isn't just that he is deferring to teammates. He is making the right passes out of the post, but, when he does look to score, he encounters more help defense and doesn't respond well. To Olajuwon's point, the help defense could be the result of Howard's slow pace on the block.

Olajuwon hopes he can help. In Nigeria to launcg a basketball initiative, Olajuwon will return to Houston during the All-Star break in February, according to NBA.com. Olajuwon sees Howard relying on old habits and he wants to remind Howard of the basketball principles they covered in summer workouts.

“Maybe if I am there with him all of the time we can reinforce new habits and make it all feel natural,” Olajuwon said.